Neptune Aquatics

ReefBot water tester Review

Well I think reagents simply add to the complexity of the system. In the same way doing a pH test with reagents is more complicated than simply putting a probe into the water. While yeah the underlying technology is more simple, for the end user it's more work.

So you have a reagent based auto tester you need, to get the reagent to a test cup, involves a pump of some sort, a syringe for accuracy and as you found out replacement of parts as they can gunk up, some way to accurate mix tank water with reagents, a way to optically distinguish when said reagents change colors (or what the color represents), then a way to clean your container to remove it of all residue (I'm guessing this is done with RO/DI water?

Now I'm not going to pretend I know how the probes work, and they very well might work differently than I think, but cup to hold tank water, put probe in, read voltage and translate that to a value, rinse out cup.
 
So I don't know the GHL details either, but the ion director does require two special lab grade reference solutions.
Not really so different from reagents. And likely single source and not free.

Also, depending on the ion probe membrane, they do wear out, get deposits of crud, and so on.
So I would expect it to require maintenance of some type.
 
Yeah the video I posted mentions the replacement of the probes, it's been a bit since I watched it but I think he said $50 each, and each is good for 400-800 tests (or was it 200-400?) regardless. Maybe the reference solution simply is a calibration, so no need to dose that in a precise manner. I dunno, I'll just wait until it comes out before speculating too much, who knows maybe they pull a complete 180 and say they cost $100 each and need to replaced every month. I think I read somewhere that the one from Spain is super expensive though, like makes Triton look like an API test kit.
And ultimately that's going to be what dictates if I decide to go in any direction for testing, price. Make it out of reach and then the convenience of having something directly influence my parameters is not something I care about, take the KH Director from GHL, at $450 + $20 x 4 times a year, and I can very happily do my weekly alkalinity testing on my tank by hand and adjust as necessary, after all it's one of the easiest tests to do.
 
So another BAR member bought a Reefbot, and seems to have it up and working.
I had to help with the App a bit, since he is not a techie, but otherwise went fine.

Also:
I got my monthly Alkalinity reagent again this week.
With various discounts, $5.34 + tax, automatically shipped every month by Amazon.
Reefbot is so nice using standard off the shelf reagents....
 
Reefbot - Apex integration

I received an interesting email today from the reefbot folks about a beta test option.
It sounds like they can push the results from a reefbot test into the Apex dashboard, so you can see results on normal Apex app.
Very interesting...

But a huge caveat - Your Apex needs to be open to the internet. Meaning setting up port forwarding through your router.
Which is especially annoying since my Apex and Reefbot are on the same internal network.
And looking at the setup procedure, I would guess it will only work long term with a static IP.
Hmmmmm ..... to try it or not.
 
rygh said:
Reefbot - Apex integration

I received an interesting email today from the reefbot folks about a beta test option.
It sounds like they can push the results from a reefbot test into the Apex dashboard, so you can see results on normal Apex app.
Very interesting...

But a huge caveat - Your Apex needs to be open to the internet. Meaning setting up port forwarding through your router.
Which is especially annoying since my Apex and Reefbot are on the same internal network.
And looking at the setup procedure, I would guess it will only work long term with a static IP.
Hmmmmm ..... to try it or not.
Click to expand...
That's actually pretty cool.
I would consider 2 questions
1- would doing this give any rights to the apex? I would think not but worth understanding
2- will you meed to disable firewall on your router? If yes, that can potentiality open a security concern..
 
ofzakaria said:
That's actually pretty cool.
I would consider 2 questions
1- would doing this give any rights to the apex? I would think not but worth understanding
2- will you meed to disable firewall on your router? If yes, that can potentiality open a security concern..
Click to expand...
1 - yes. You must input your Apex username and password, which means total rights to do anything on your apex.

2 - not fully disabled, but you need to open a port, so that the apex can be seen from outside.
Port forwarding is not unsafe, unless you goof and do it wrong.

My big concern is a software bug that when sending data somehow corrupts the Apex programming.
It appears to log in and push data. That means it can probably log in and do bad things accidentally.
Especially if Apex somehow has a bug also.
That could be tank-fatal, so is not something to take lightly.
 
rygh said:
1 - yes. You must input your Apex username and password, which means total rights to do anything on your apex.

2 - not fully disabled, but you need to open a port, so that the apex can be seen from outside.
Port forwarding is not unsafe, unless you goof and do it wrong.

My big concern is a software bug that when sending data somehow corrupts the Apex programming.
It appears to log in and push data. That means it can probably log in and do bad things accidentally.
Especially if Apex somehow has a bug also.
That could be tank-fatal, so is not something to take lightly.
Click to expand...
Tough call....
 
I wouldn’t take the chance on a live system. And I wouldn’t bother on a test system. But of course it entirely depends on how much you enjoy beta testing for free.
 
Reefbot uses a cloud based system to give you the information? i.e. it doesn't actually store it on the device? Yeah I wouldn't trust it to send info to my Apex, and I don't even have an Apex :D
 
rygh said:
How can someone with physics in their user name be such a Luddite. .... :)
Click to expand...
Honestly, if you saw the mess of crap still under my tank (nearly a year later) you'd probably think "Good thing he doesn't have an apex just lying on the floor there!" One weekend a couple months ago when my wife took the kid to her moms for the weekend I did get down and dirty and tried to organize wires, mount stuff, etc. Got pretty far actually, however I didn't have any way to mount my vortech pumps nor power bricks, so they're still on the floor in a mess o' wires.

Oh and physics =/= engineer
 
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